Too Soon To Start Thinking About 2020? No, it's 2020!

[Kurth]

Seems sincere and good, but he's still going to get scorched for not actually and directly apologizing.

Until there's some credible evidence that he's a lecherous old bastard, to hell with those doing the scorching.

[Defiant]

Sanders still won't offer a clear timeline for releasing his tax returns, saying only he'll release them "soon".

As a reminder, today is the three year anniversary of when he promised to release eight years of full tax returns "soon", and he hasn't released them three years later.

Seriously, every candidate should have been prepared for this when gearing up to run, and be prepared to release them soon after Tax Day (only four candidates have released them so far), but Sanders in particular should have been ready for this question.

[YellowKing]

I wish Sanders would just go away. He's like an annoying uncle at Thanksgiving.

[$iljanus]

I wish Sanders would just go away. He's like an annoying uncle at Thanksgiving.

I don't have an annoying Thanksgiving uncle but if I did I think Uncle Bernie would probably fit the bill.

[Holman]

The taxes are a real red flag. Bernie has been dodging the issue for years.

The best-case scenario is just that he's really rich, an embarrassment when your brand is Socialism.

Worse than that would be evidence that he has used every trick in the book to avoid paying his share. Even if the methods were legal, they would blow a hole in his myth below the waterline.

I suppose too there could be signs of other flaws or problems. (Would, e.g., massive medical bills be revealed in his deductions?)

None of this even requires illegality or shady dealing.

[Jaymann]

I wish Sanders would just go away. He's like an annoying uncle at Thanksgiving.

SNL should totally do a sketch on this.

[Jeff V]

I wish Sanders would just go away. He's like an annoying uncle at Thanksgiving.

SNL should totally do a sketch on this.

Can Rick Moranis be brought in to play Bernie?

[Holman]

I wish Sanders would just go away. He's like an annoying uncle at Thanksgiving.

SNL should totally do a sketch on this.

Can Rick Moranis be brought in to play Bernie?

Larry David was their recurring Bernie in 2016.

[El Guapo]

The taxes are a real red flag. Bernie has been dodging the issue for years.

The best-case scenario is just that he's really rich, an embarrassment when your brand is Socialism.

Worse than that would be evidence that he has used every trick in the book to avoid paying his share. Even if the methods were legal, they would blow a hole in his myth below the waterline.

I suppose too there could be signs of other flaws or problems. (Would, e.g., massive medical bills be revealed in his deductions?)

None of this even requires illegality or shady dealing.

I have seen some stories raising potential issues about transactions his wife engaged in. Possible that the tax returns would shed some light on that as well.

Either way, it seems super problematic. Both as a matter of substance (is he hiding something) and as a matter of politics (rather hampers Democrats' efforts to get Trump's tax returns if one of their leading candidates is doing the same thing).

[GreenGoo]

Either way, it seems super problematic. Both as a matter of substance (is he hiding something) and as a matter of politics (rather hampers Democrats' efforts to get Trump's tax returns if one of their leading candidates is doing the same thing).

I agreed, but you could argue that each party needs to decide if they want to monitor their own nominees. When it gets to the primary, then I think it's important that everyone know what a candidate's tax situation is, and what that means.

If Sanders is the nominee, he damn well better release his tax returns. Otherwise, meh.

That is to say, I think the Dems can demand the president's tax returns without being hypocritical that Sanders (he's just this guy, you know?) hasn't released his.

[Defiant]

https://twitter.com/toddlevin/status/11 ... 6315280385

[Kurth]

https://twitter.com/toddlevin/status/11 ... 6315280385

Sarcasm? I think so, but I'm not sure, only because I read a whole thing on Twitter today scorching Biden (as predicted) for making excuses that "norms" have changed.

I suck at trying to embed Tweets, but this one is exemplary:

https://twitter.com/simpliciok/status/1 ... 6560557056

Spoiler:

No, it is not good. It has never been a "social norm" to kiss and touch women you do not know. What's changed isn't "social norms" but the way in which we hold people accountable for breaching those norms. The failure to recognize this distinction is disqualifying.

[Isgrimnur]

Can we get rid of Ted Cruz, then?

[ImLawBoy]

https://twitter.com/toddlevin/status/11 ... 6315280385

Sarcasm? I think so, but I'm not sure, only because I read a whole thing on Twitter today scorching Biden (as predicted) for making excuses that "norms" have changed.

Clearly a joke - the joke being that he's never received a hug from his mother.

I suck at trying to embed Tweets, but this one is exemplary:

As you've probably now discovered, embedding tweets is super easy, because all you have to do is copy the link and let the forum software do the rest!

[Isgrimnur]

Assuming you trim anything off the URL from the question mark to the right.

[ImLawBoy]

I've never had to do that, FWIW.

[Jaymann]

I had no idea who Andrew Yang is, but he is articulate, really understands the coming economic crunch due to automation, and has some real solutions:

[Defiant]

https://twitter.com/PeteButtigieg/statu ... 1818450944

[Defiant]

If Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is having a moment, so is his husband, 29-year-old Chasten Buttigieg. His sense of humor and revealing honesty about his feelings have been a hit on social media, boosting his followers by the tens of thousands in recent weeks and helping put "Mayor Pete" on the millennial radar.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/06/politics ... index.html

https://twitter.com/mayorpetememes/stat ... 4186022913

[Defiant]

Booker raised $5 million and Yang raised $1.7 million in Q1.

[Defiant]

And this Massachusetts poll isn't good news for Warren, putting her third behind Biden and Sanders in her home state.

[hepcat]

It's official. I've decided I'm full on team Buttigieg. I don't care if he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning in a country that is currently controlled by the worst of ourselves. I'm still going to hope we find our better selves. Everything he says and does is just so damn...good. So relentlessly sincere. Our country needs that.

...obviously I'm in an optimistic mood. Hopefully it's not beaten down by the small minded, hateful people I mentioned.

[Zarathud]

My wife and kids will be in South Bend this weekend for spring break visiting her aunt. Her aunt has been a big Buttigheg supporter despite having met the Bidens while living in Delaware. I would not be surprised if they end up at a rally.

[hepcat]

...and I won't be surprised if I end up face down in a bowl of chips after a six of Anchor Steam Saturday at your place.

[Holman]

Buttigieg seems like a warm and wonderful and risky choice.

In addition to being young and inexperienced (as candidates go), his whole aura is condensing around a core of Too-Good-To-Be-True. That's dangerous; a single scratch can pop that balloon. When your brand is "Boy Scout," you can't weather even a minor scandal the way you can with "Deal-Making Billionaire Grifter."

[hepcat]

In addition to being young and inexperienced (as candidates go),

Inexperienced is no longer an obstacle to becoming POTUS. Haven't you heard?

[Pyperkub]

In addition to being young and inexperienced (as candidates go),

Inexperienced is no longer an obstacle to becoming POTUS. Haven't you heard?

Yup. Being POTUS on the other hand...

[rittchard]

It's official. I've decided I'm full on team Buttigieg. I don't care if he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning in a country that is currently controlled by the worst of ourselves. I'm still going to hope we find our better selves. Everything he says and does is just so damn...good. So relentlessly sincere. Our country needs that.

...obviously I'm in an optimistic mood. Hopefully it's not beaten down by the small minded, hateful people I mentioned.

Hooray!!! Glad you are on board too. I've become absurdly obsessed with Team Buttigieg, Pete, Chasten and even their dogs (apparently I'm a Buddy). I check twitter all the time now for the first time since it started. I've watched most all the speeches and interviews, I think I've gone crazy because I've never really been that interested in politics and I've never been this interested in any candidate for anything.

Speaking of which, Pete was great at the Victory Fund speech (I love how his face turns red when he's talking about how he met his hubby online):



but Chasten was pretty amazing at the HRC:



Will America actually accept a gay President? Or even a gay Presidential candidate? As they say, only one way to find out

[Holman]

I've seen it pointed out a couple of different places that mainstream media is already (though probably unconsciously) ignoring the female candidates.

The latest was an MSNBC story that basically cast the entire primary as a choice between age and youth, explicitly Biden/Bernie vs. Beto/Buttigieg.

(Of course this leaves out more than just Harris and Warren and other women, but it's clear that those two poll better than the young white dudes featured as "the alternative.")

[msteelers]

I have nothing against Buttigieg, and have liked nearly everything I've seen from him. But damn it, I refuse to accept that going from a reality TV show host to a small town mayor is a good idea. This is the Presidency of the United States. We're in this mess because 47% of the country forgot that the Presidency isn't a joke and isn't a game. We don't need the remaining 53% forgetting too.

[Sepiche]

I have nothing against Buttigieg, and have liked nearly everything I've seen from him. But damn it, I refuse to accept that going from a reality TV show host to a small town mayor is a good idea. This is the Presidency of the United States. We're in this mess because 47% of the country forgot that the Presidency isn't a joke and isn't a game. We don't need the remaining 53% forgetting too.

Before being elected Drumpf never served in the military, and was never elected to public office. Pete Buttigieg has done both, and running a town of 100,000 is certainly closer to the job than running a racket disguised as a corporation.

I get your point, but comparing Pete Buttigieg to Drumpf in any way is an insult.

[Holman]

I really really like Buttigieg, but I would be more willing to embrace him as my candidate if he gave some sign that he understands that bipartisanship is 100% dead, at least for now.

So far he talks like he thinks a progressive agenda can be achieved by sitting down and explaining to Red America how important it really is. He sounds twice as naive as every caricature of Obama's naivete ever imagined. He seems like someone who could be eaten alive by a Republican -minority-, let alone a McConnell senate. (I have the same problem with Booker, whose baggage Buttigieg fortunately lacks.)

I need substance at the top. But I'll say Buttigieg is my first choice for VP, where he'll learn what he needs to learn.

[Defiant]

There was an article recently on "theory of change", which mentioned him supporting scrapping the filibuster, which is a pretty anti-bipartisan stand.

Meanwhile, Sanders is skeptical of removing the filibuster, which is a stand I'm much more sympathetic with, but makes it far less likely that he's be able to get any agenda passed (of course, even with it gone, he'd have problems since it's not clear all Democrats would be on board with all of his agenda).

[Kraken]

And this Massachusetts poll isn't good news for Warren, putting her third behind Biden and Sanders in her home state.

I want her policies to win. She is the strongest candidate in that arena. But people don't vote for policies. So if she winds up with a cabinet position in the Bernie administration, I'm fine with that.

This much is true: NH is a must-win for both Warren and Sanders, and they can't both win it.

Buttigieg seems like a warm and wonderful and risky choice.

In addition to being young and inexperienced (as candidates go), his whole aura is condensing around a core of Too-Good-To-Be-True. That's dangerous; a single scratch can pop that balloon. When your brand is "Boy Scout," you can't weather even a minor scandal the way you can with "Deal-Making Billionaire Grifter."

At some point he's going to have to stand on his record as the mayor of a small city with a murder rate higher than Chicago's, a poverty rate exceeding 20%, and a median income well below the national average. Has South Bend improved during his tenure? IDK, but his credentials seem pretty unimpressive.

[Defiant]

This much is true: NH is a must-win for both Warren and Sanders, and they can't both win it.

I don't see NH as a must-win for Sanders (even if it would be kind of shocking) - I think he would still have the money and base (and the motivation) to keep going even if he lost several "must-win" states.

[hepcat]

At some point he's going to have to stand on his record as the mayor of a small city with a murder rate higher than Chicago's, a poverty rate exceeding 20%, and a median income well below the national average. Has South Bend improved during his tenure? IDK, but his credentials seem pretty unimpressive.

His record ain’t too shabby.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a city as down as South Bend was isn’t going to come back over night. But it sounds like Buttigieg is getting there. It might not be as fast as some woukd like, but for those who can see the reality of a situation it’s a success I would say.

[Holman]

At some point he's going to have to stand on his record as the mayor of a small city with a murder rate higher than Chicago's, a poverty rate exceeding 20%, and a median income well below the national average. Has South Bend improved during his tenure? IDK, but his credentials seem pretty unimpressive.

His record ain’t too shabby.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a city as down as South Bend was isn’t going to come back over night. But it sounds like Buttigieg is getting there. It might not be as fast as some woukd like, but for those who can see the reality of a situation it’s a success I would say.

South Bend hasn't elected a Republican mayor since the party realignment of the 1960s. They're a blue bubble in a red state.

Ask Georgia's Stacey Abrams about localized blue support in a red field.

[GreenGoo]

I hear Eastwood is still alive.

[Isgrimnur]

But Empty Chair isn’t eligible for VP.

[Defiant]

https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/1115391499955572736